From Robespierre to Stalin (himself a former seminarist), leftists have traditionally been opposed to all religion, viewing it as a threat to their own revolutionary schemes. But in recent decades -- in fulfillment of the Marxist theorist Antonio Gramsci’s prediction that communism would gradually make its "long march through the institutions" of culture -- leftists have entered the religious
arena and made churches throughout the developed world into captives
of radical politics.

One early warning of this evolving
movement came in the late 1960s with the appearance of liberation
theology, a movement founded on the belief that
God makes Himself known particularly through the poor, and that the
Bible can be fully understood only when interpreted from the
perspective of the impoverished. Centered in Latin America and
especially influential within Roman Catholicism, liberation theology
advocated political activism, even including revolutionary activity,
as a means of applying the tenets of Christian faith.

When socialism and communism had presented themselves candidly as
essentially godless doctrines aiming to seize a secular version of
the power enjoyed by religion, they enjoyed only limited appeal
among a traditionally religious population. But now, reframed by
liberation theologians, socialist theory had a new power in church
going populations because of its vision of transforming socioeconomic
structures -- generally meaning capitalism -- that caused social
inequities around the world.

Since the 1960s, the religious
left has expanded its reach to embrace the tenets of leftist doctrine
in a host of spheres, including: radical environmentalism (depicting
capitalism and industry as inherently destructive to the natural
world); feminism (supporting "pay equity" and, in some
cases, universal access to taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand); gay
rights (supporting a radical redefinition of marriage and family);
anti-war movements (viewing the United States as the chief cause of
international strife); open borders (supporting amnesty and expanded
rights for illegal immigrants); human rights (classifying the United
States and Israel as the world’s foremost transgressors); civil
rights (characterizing the U.S. as an irredeemably racist nation
where preferential policies are needed to counterbalance this
intractable trait); criminal justice (viewing crime as a by-product
of corrupt social institutions like capitalism); and economics
(again, depicting capitalism as an exploitative system that harms the
vast majority of the world’s population for the benefit of a small,
powerful elite).

Many Christian churches seek to justify the
foregoing views by asserting that Jesus Christ himself, were he alive
today, would have adopted these same positions. Thus religious
leftists propose to combine the teachings of Jesus with the teachings
of Marx as a way of justifying a socialist revolution designed to
overthrow the economics of capitalism and greed. They re-render the
gospels not as doctrine impacting on the human soul but rather as
windows into the historical dialectic of class struggle.

In the religious left’s ideal, the Marxist State serves as a
substitute for Christ, offering a theory of sin (private property)
and salvation (collective ownership); a church that dispenses grace
(the State, as administered by the vanguard of the proletariat); and
a litany of saints (socialists) and sinners (capitalists). And the eagerly anticipated Marxist
“revolution” takes the form of wealth redistribution rather than
violent looting.

This section of DiscoverTheNetworks examines the worldviews and activities of organizations that seek to advance the doctrines of the religious left. The RESOURCES column on the right side of this page contains a link to the section where profiles of these groups can be found. It also contains links to articles, essays, books, and videos that explore, in depth, the following:

liberation theology, which holds that the church must stand on the side of the impoverished and the downtrodden, and that it must, if necessary, support the overthrow of social systems -- especially capitalism -- that contribute to their oppression;

the religious left's affinity for socialist and leftist doctrines;

the religious left's embrace of radical environmentalism and its agendas;

the anti-Americanism that is a hallmark of the religious left;

the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic worldviews that are commonplace among the religious left;

the religious left's support for open borders, unregulated immigration, and amnesty for illegal aliens residing in the United States;

the religious left's steadfast belief that pacifism is the only morally acceptable way of dealing with aggressors around the world;

and the religious left's alliance with certain elements in the labor-union movement.